


take my last chance to burn a bridge or two

by smallredboy



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Bisexuality, Crushes, Emotional Baggage, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 03:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy
Summary: Chase and Thirteen bond with a game.





	take my last chance to burn a bridge or two

**Author's Note:**

> friendship! sadness!
> 
> enjoy!

“Let’s play truth or dare,” Thirteen says as she sits down at the break room.

Chase raises a brow. “Excuse me?”

She smiles a little. “I played with Wilson during the lockdown. It was fun, and you need a distraction.”   


He looks at her and squints a little like he’s not sure what her motives are for such a thing. Of course, he’s still recovering from his divorce and with his mixed feelings about pretty much everything, but it still doesn’t stop him from trying to pretend he’s okay.

He knows Thirteen can see right through it, though. 

He straightens up and pulls his chair closer. “Let’s play truth or dare, then.”

She nods.

The game starts light-hearted, obviously— easy questions and easy dares, but they start sobering up as they go along.

“Truth or dare?” she asks him after a few rounds.

He shrugs. “Truth.” He hopes it’s an utterly impersonal question like in the last few rounds.

“You’re bisexual too, right?”   


He nearly drops his glass of Coke and he stares at her, his heart racing just at the mere thought. His eyes wide and his cheeks flushed red, and he doesn’t quite know what to think, his head swimming. He knows she’s more than okay with it, of course, he knows, but terror grips at him the same way of always.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she says.

“I am,” he stammers out, still looking at her with a bit of fear in his eyes. Thirteen’s not scary, not exactly— she’s just slightly intimidating. Maybe because of how sure of herself she is, the confidence in her stance and her whole self.

She smiles and nods. 

There are a few seconds of silence before he throws it back to her.

“Truth or dare?”   
  
“Dare.”   


“Try to seduce Cuddy,” he says.

Her eyes widen. “Chase!”   
  
“What?!”   


She holds her head in her hands. “I’m going to kill you. But after we’re done with this case I’m going to her office, I promise.” She sighs. “Truth or dare?”   
  
He hesitates for a second. “Truth.”   


Thirteen looks at him and after a few seconds that stretch on forever before she smiles smugly. “Okay, so you’re bi too. My question is— do you  _ like  _ House?”   


His grip on his glass loosens once again and before he can cause a disaster he puts it down, his hands trembling a little in surprise. Of course, his reaction makes the unspoken yes glaringly obvious, so it’s not like he can deny it. But he wants to deny it— it’s been barely three months ever since he got divorced with Cameron, and guilt always hits him like a freight train whenever he even entertains the thought of pursuing something with his boss.

“Man,” Thirteen starts, and he looks back up at her, “That Catholic guilt really is hitting you, huh?”   
  
“Also the just-divorced guilt,” he adds uselessly, fiddling with the sleeves of his white doctor’s coat. 

“You won’t kill anyone by admitting you want House to fuck you until you can’t walk,” Thirteen says, tilting her head.

Chase grimaces at the crude description, as accurate as it is, it makes him feel sick with disgust towards himself. He doesn’t like it at all, how he can’t get over everything that’s happened. His childhood of Catholicism, of being told just how wrong who he is was, and now he just got divorced and he doesn’t want to fuck up more relationships just yet.   


Although he’s never had a relationship with House. He’s just… he’s just had that admiration, that wish for him to notice him. Something more than House sneering at him and calling him stupid or pretty before going on about his day. He wants more— and he knows he’ll never quite get it.

“I know,” he says after a few seconds before sipping his drink. “But I just…”   
  
“You know what,” Thirteen tells him, elbowing him gently. “Truth or dare?” He blinks at her. “Say dare for me, please.”   
  
He pauses for a second, weighing just what embarrassing thing in regards to his crush is she going to make him do. The idea makes his stomach sink further into a pit of guilt and shame and he doesn’t like it, doesn’t like it at all. He closes his eyes and sighs, trying to quell his anxiety. “Dare.”   
  
“Get a therapist and then confess to House.”   
  
Before he can register it too much he says, “What?”   
  
“Get a therapist,” she insists. “And then confess to House.”   


He takes another swing of his Coke, avoiding her face and her curious eyes. He doesn’t want to even entertain the idea of telling him about his feelings. He’s made so many jokes about it all, about his divorce, about him— if anything he’ll be a quick pity fuck and little more.

It’s not like he’s ever expected more from House.

“That’s two dares,” he says.

“Put it on my tab,” she drawls out.

Chase swallows nervously, his heart hammering a little at the idea of actually talking to someone about the huge amount of issues he has. A stranger, that is. He’s heard House say therapy is for losers, but he’s got a psychiatrist now, he’s pretty sure… He needs to stop holding House in a pedestal, taking his word as the truth. But it’s a bit addictive to do so, to follow blindly.

He smiles forcedly. “I will,” he says before standing up. “Good luck with Cuddy.”

She smiles genuinely. “Good luck with therapy, Chase.”


End file.
